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Topic: Thank you for the birthday card... (Read 8126 times)

This morning, along with our post, the mail man delivered one of their information cards that said there was an item for us at the postal sorting office and that to retrieve it, it would cost £1.09.

As is typical for this card whenever, weíve got them, it just has our surname, so we donít know specifically who in the household the item is for. Also, it doesnít say who itís from, to give us the choice of ignoring it. We only know what it is when we go to the sorting office to collect the item and pay for the remaining postage.

As I recognised my friendís handwriting on the envelope, I accepted it. The postage for the item was actually underpaid by 9p and that incurred a handling charge of £1.

I have a feeling my friend didnít go to the post office to get the item sized (it goes by size and weight) and simply stuck a stamp on it for what she thought was the correct weight.

I know this isn't a huge sum of money but naturally, I donít want this kind of thing happening again and itís always a possibility that it will.

How would one go about thanking their friend for the card but also letting them know about the deficient postage?

Was there perhaps a delay in receiving the card due to having you pick it up? If it was a few days later than normal delivery, I'd just tell her, "Thanks for the birthday card! I'm so sorry I'm late in thanking you, I actually just got it because there was a mix-up with the postage and had to go pick it up."

I'd only recommend saying it if you could pull it off lightly and laughing about it. It doesn't sound like you're that upset, so it could probably work.

What about a general discussion at one time about horror at how much prices have gone up and make certain to mention postage in particular? Flip the situation on its head, talk about the time you were going to 'guesstimate' postage, but you decided to take it to get properly weighed/measured after all, and thank goodness you did because it was more than you expected.

Of course, nothing might come of it as far as your friend is concerned, but it might prompt her to go to the post office next time 'just in case'.

Did the card require extra postage due to being ovrrsize, overweight or something else? Do cards require different postage depending on where they are being sent in the country? Ithink your system is different.

there are size limits. If a card is larger than average it has to go as a 'large letter' rather than a standard one. I think the test is something like 24 x 16 x 0.5cm, but if it is too big in any one dimension it counts as a Large Letter. Post Offices have test slots you can use to check if it is too big.

It's easy to get caught out as if you enclose something in the envelope of a small card of letter it can easily take it over the thickness limit. I think all the one's I've had to pay a surcharge on have been becauae the envelope was considered to be too thick, not because it was too big in other directions.

If you stick a normal (1st or 2nd class) stamp on then you get charged the extra 9p plus a £1 handling charge.

The system is relatively new and a lot of people are not familiar with it and assume that a simple letter or card can always be sent with a standard stamp.

I think when they made the change it was justified on the basis that larger and more awkwardly shaped items have to be sorted manually rather than automatically, and so cost more to process.

Was there perhaps a delay in receiving the card due to having you pick it up? If it was a few days later than normal delivery, I'd just tell her, "Thanks for the birthday card! I'm so sorry I'm late in thanking you, I actually just got it because there was a mix-up with the postage and had to go pick it up."

I'd only recommend saying it if you could pull it off lightly and laughing about it. It doesn't sound like you're that upset, so it could probably work.

I love this! It's light and breezy and puts most of the focus on the delay of the thank you... but still manages to point out that the postage should be checked.

I would say, "Oh, hey, thanks for the birthday card. I wanted to tell you, in case it happens to you again--you didn't put enough postage on it, and we had to go pick it up AND pay a handling fee. That's because it was oversize--a person really has to be careful with greeting cards these day! I'd hate for you to end up doing it again because you didn't know."

The point is not that you are complaining.Nor are you telling her "don't do it to me again."You are saying, "Ooh, something went wrong, and I'm sure you'd want to know for when you mail a card to some other relative or friend."

Was there perhaps a delay in receiving the card due to having you pick it up? If it was a few days later than normal delivery, I'd just tell her, "Thanks for the birthday card! I'm so sorry I'm late in thanking you, I actually just got it because there was a mix-up with the postage and had to go pick it up."

I'd only recommend saying it if you could pull it off lightly and laughing about it. It doesn't sound like you're that upset, so it could probably work.

I love this! It's light and breezy and puts most of the focus on the delay of the thank you... but still manages to point out that the postage should be checked.

I like this wording too. It's "light", tactful and diplomatic but still opens the subject. And you are graciously thanking her for the card at the same time. Perfect.

Was there perhaps a delay in receiving the card due to having you pick it up? If it was a few days later than normal delivery, I'd just tell her, "Thanks for the birthday card! I'm so sorry I'm late in thanking you, I actually just got it because there was a mix-up with the postage and had to go pick it up."

That could very well be true! My birthday was 10 days ago. I've just taken another look at the outer envelope she put the card in and I can see that the post office haven't stamped the date/time on it like they usually do; they've just stuck the handling fee label over the stamp. So, that phrase could work quite well.

I see Margo has explained the system perfectly. The card isn't underweight for the 1st class stamp but for some reason, friend had put the card and card envelope in an A5 envelope (don't know why; maybe she considered writing a letter and ran out of time) and I think that's what changed the size enough for it not to go through the post office's card slit testing thingy so they slapped on the extra charges.

I see Margo has explained the system perfectly. The card isn't underweight for the 1st class stamp but for some reason, friend had put the card and card envelope in an A5 envelope (don't know why; maybe she considered writing a letter and ran out of time) and I think that's what changed the size enough for it not to go through the post office's card slit testing thingy so they slapped on the extra charges.

In which case I would absolutely alert her to the idea that this sort of treatment means extra postage is required. I wouldn't want her to think that it worked, and that she could continue to successfully use the same postage.

I think this is a very good question to bring up. When a friend does something nice for you, but what was supposed to be nice ends up unexpectedly going wrong, when do you let the friend know, and when do you keep silent?

In your case, my own opinion is that it would be OK (as others suggested) to very politely let the sender know what went wrong, so it won't happen again.

Honestly, it's not enough effort or money to even mention it. No matter how light, breezy or matter-of-fact your tone, I would take that message as saying, 'you caused me trouble,' and it would certainly be the last time I sent you a birthday card.

Honestly, it's not enough effort or money to even mention it. No matter how light, breezy or matter-of-fact your tone, I would take that message as saying, 'you caused me trouble,' and it would certainly be the last time I sent you a birthday card.

I see your point. And it's a good one.

But if I were the one who sent the card, I think I would want to know what happened. Yes, I might be just a teeny bit embarrassed to find out there had been a problem, but at least I'd know not to do it like that again in the future.

I think whether or not I mentioned it would hinge on whether I thought this particular time was a 'one time only' situation or whether I thought she'd probably done it before and would be likely to do it again with other cards (to other people).